Customers

Espoo is the second-largest city in Finland, with a population of nearly 250,000 people served by 14,000 city employees. Espoo's application management team is responsible for citywide information systems such as Espoo's ERP solution. Directly or indirectly, these critical systems affect the work of every city employee in areas such as payroll and travel claims.

Case Espoo: Streamlined and secure performance for city employees

The city of Espoo implemented an Oracle ERP system in 2005. As required by legislation, the city opened the management of the system to a public tender in 2010. The companies that bid for the contract were scored according to tight criteria, and Attido was chosen from among several candidates. Key factors in the choice included Attido's expertise and the company's experience with Oracle systems. Attido was also able to bring sufficient resources to bear on the service offered.

"In addition to lowering our costs, we have achieved clear improvements in our service level," says Risto Ansolahti from the City of Espoo's IT services department.

STARTING POINT: Revamping processes

The management of Espoo's ERP system was transferred to Attido at the beginning of 2011. However, the collaboration already began the previous autumn with a transition project in which system management responsibilities were signed over in stages. The process also involved a cultural change, as Espoo's application management team was simultaneously completing its own reorganization and streamlining its processes.

"We now have an end-to-end application management process for our entire organization. Attido, our clients and IT professionals all use Espoo's unified, real-time tracking system for managing change and feature requests as well as new releases. We can now track the progress of each request. Previously, this information was passed back and forth in countless e-mails, so it was very hard to keep track of whether a given request had already been implemented or not," Ansolahti says.

The handover process was completed in February 2011.

PRESENT: Active management and development

"In short, Attido is responsible for ensuring that our entire ERP solution functions as agreed,", Risto Ansolahti summarizes.

The management contract is in two parts. A fixed portion includes the management of the ERP system. Service levels are monitored according to stringent criteria, metrics defined in the contract. Sanctions are agreed on as well: If Attido were not to respond to a service request within the specified time, a penalty would be deducted from the monthly service fee.

The second part of the contract encompasses the development of the system, or so-called update releases. The administrator users of the system – Espoo's financial, procurement and HR departments – constantly make development and change requests. These are collected into update releases four times per year, and then implemented according to an agreed-upon process and schedule.

The contract also includes the measurement of customer satisfaction twice a year.

"Based on our first survey, our admin users have been very satisfied with Attido's service attitude and speed. The Attido crew is dynamic, professional and always looking for further opportunities to improve our system," Ansolahti notes.

FUTURE: Aiming for a long-term partnership

"Our collaboration will certainly develop and deepen over time, as we get to know each other. Of course, there are always challenges to overcome, but because our service levels and processes are defined and described very thoroughly in our contract, we have been able to minimize the potential for any conflicts. In other words, we have an excellent basis for a successful long-term partnership," Risto Ansolahti says.

The contract between the city of Espoo and Attido is valid under further notice. The cooperation and its service levels are monitored and evaluated constantly, but the choice of vendor will be open for review after four years at the earliest.

"Competitive tendering is a major project that is expensive and laborious. With this in mind, we would ideally like to find partners to whom we can commit for an extended time,", Ansolahti adds.

"The city of Espoo is an interesting and highly valued customer for us. In the beginning, there was a lot of work as processes and ways of working were overhauled, but the end result is a well-functioning and dynamic partnership," says Pasi Matsi, CEO, Attido.